Hungarian Royal order of merit

[Alex K]

Hi everyone, I have these two rather beautiful examples of this order in my collection. As can be seen, one is civil, the other military, do both have the correct ribbons?, the civil version has a stamp in betwenn the arms which appears to say BG although I can't be certain at this stage, The military version has no markings that I can see.

any advice would be helpful, particularly with the stamping

thanks

Alex

[Alex K]

and the military version

[hunyadi]

First of all - very nice awads! Secondly - the ribbons are correct. Green for the civil and the red for the military during the war. There was also a similar ribbon for peace time military. Green center field and red white outter rim. As for "BG" - that is an unkown mark to me. Mostly you find 'AMAP' with silver content '875' or 'BRONZ' if it was made from a bronze base. 'BG' if its engraved could also be the recipients initials as this has been found on other Knights Crosses. Would it be possible to show the 'BG'?

[Alex K]

Hi Hunyadi, thanks for the info, The BG is not engraved but stamped, unfortunately I can't post a picture as my digital camera does not have a macro facility and I can't scan the area where the stamp is, see photo. There are no other markings or proofs that I can see. They may be bronze based as they are quite heavy so wouldn't have a silver hallmark

regards

Alex

[hunyadi]

Very interesting - none of my reference material mentions such a makers mark on these 1922-1944 medals - however there are known instances where they were made in Germany during and after (!!) the war as well as in Austria. It could also be a private-purchase from a Hungarian jewler. Still - a very nice piece.

[Guest Rick Research]

I have two sets of Vizeadmiral Joachim Lietzmann's ribbon bars. He received the Commander grade of this Order before the war and wore his ribbons with lovely little miniatures of the center disk to represent that grade in Kleindekoration:

and close up:

I don't know if this was an official Hungarian way to indicate grades when only ribbons were worn, or some strange German invention.

[hunyadi]

I have two sets of Vizeadmiral Joachim Lietzmann's ribbon bars. He received the Commander grade of this Order before the war and wore his ribbons with lovely little miniatures of the center disk to represent that grade in Kleindekoration:

and close up:

I don't know if this was an official Hungarian way to indicate grades when only ribbons were worn, or some strange German invention.

Like in Germany there was a huge market for these devices to be worn on the ribbon (for breast type badges where a medal on teh medla bar could be worn concurrently) and the ribbon bar to indicate the various gades as the ribbons broke down into Civil (green), Military Peace time (green field with red/white borders) and Military War (red field with green / white borders) - as these were the only three types of ribbons for Signum Laudis, Orders of Merit, Bravery (but these were the Military War ribbons) etc...one coudl have a full rack of ribbons on a bar and without the devices - it would be a guessing game as to what grade they were for.

[Alex K]

Hi all, just a long overdue update on this thread, since I posted the examples of the Knights classes, I've added, the following to my collection, A nice Royal officers cross, a Royal 3rd class Commanders cross, and just for fun, spotted an Republic officers cross.

The Commanders cross has the same "BG" mark in exactly the same place as the Knight's cross I originally posted, still don't know what it means, though.

The republic officer's is very "Blingy" in comparison but has some amazing enamel work

Attached updated images

regards

[BalkanCollector]

Very nice collection Alex! It's nice to see the difference between old and new officer's cross.

[Alex K]

Hi, thanks for the comments, it's difficult to see from the image but the royal officers cross is heavily vaulted, but the republican version is even MORE vaulted!

Regards, alex

[1812 Overture]

Friend, I am honored to discover this article, and I am very happy that you have been active in this forum for so many years. I have just purchased a cross from the Kingdom of Hungary with a mini breast star.

[Gordon Craig]

Alex K,

Nice awards.  Thanks for showing us pictures of them.

Regards,

Gordon

 

[Alex K]

Hi, your new purchase looks very nice, and thanks for the kind comments, does your posted image just show the complete medal or just the ribbons, I can't seem to open the entire image? 

Regards

Hi Gordon, thanks for the kinds words, in hand, they really do look as amazing as on the images, regards